Top-seeded ESU to host NCAA regional basketball tourney

Monday

Mar 10, 2014 at 1:07 PMMar 11, 2014 at 10:09 AM

East Stroudsburg University (28-1), fresh off winning its second PSAC championship in three years, earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship’s Atlantic Region and will serve as the regional host this weekend.

The Warriors are in the tournament for the fourth time in the last five years, earning at-large bids in 2010 and 2013 and the PSAC’s automatic bid in 2012 and 2014. ESU topped West Chester, 92-80, in the PSAC championship game Sunday afternoon.

ESU will host an NCAA men’s basketball regional for the first time in program history, and look for its second NCAA Tournament win. The Warriors advanced to the second round in 1990.

ESU is ranked No. 2 nationally in Division II in last week’s NABC DII Coaches Poll. The Warriors, under 12th-year head coach Jeff Wilson, are one of three Atlantic Region teams to advance to the NCAA Tournament in four of the last five years.

The four regional quarterfinal games will be played on Saturday, followed by semifinal games on Sunday and the Atlantic Region final on Tuesday, March 18.

The eight regional winners from across Division II will advance to the NCAA DII Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., on March 26-29.